Unless you've been living under a rock or in a cave the past couple of years you've already heard how explosively popular online social gaming has become. Games like Facebook Poker, Farmville, and Mafia Wars have taken the online gaming world by storm and can boast not only millions but tens of millions of loyal monthly gamers. Social gaming has taken everyday things like farming or your average poker game and turned them into addictive applications that are played in just about every country around the globe on social networks such as Facebook, Myspace, Bebo and Tagged.

Why are these online games so addictive and why do they appeal to such a broad audience of gamers? Well let's take a look at one of the more popular games out there today, Facebook Texas Holdem Poker. Not so long ago if you wanted to play a game of poker you could either take a trip to Las Vegas or try to find a home game in someone's smokey basement. The logistics of planning a game with your friends alone almost always guranteed that someone would back out or cancel or that the game would have to be moved at the last minute. In comparison, social gaming allows players to simply log into their Facebook, Myspace or corresponding social networking profiles and start playing a game with their facebook poker chips in minutes.

Another reason Facebook Poker has become so popular within the gaming community is that it can quite literally be played at any time of day, morning or night, rain or shine. One of the hardest things about getting a regular poker game going is finding a location to play. Everyone usually has an excuse as to why they can't play at their house on any given night, maybe because their girlfriend is staying over or the kids are working on a project or their wife is throwing a party of her own. Facebook poker lets players join a tournament with their facebook poker chips from anywhere they like, whether it be their bedroom, office, bathroom, or even while they're away from home on their iphones.

Facebook poker chips, or zynga poker chips and myspace poker chips as they're sometimes called, have no real world value outside of the game, but inside the game they offer players a chance at fame by outplaying their friends and making their way to the highroller tables where people all over the world can watch them play against some of the finest players in the game. Players of all backrounds compete to get their names listed on the top players list which can be seen by all the people in the game, which is quite an accomplishment. So eventhough facebook poker chips can't buy you a new car or a home, they certainly have a lot of value as social currency.

It's this social status of advancing in the game that most people crave and the reason why games like Farmville and Mafia Wars have accompanied ones like Facebook Texas Holdem Poker to rocket to the top of the most popular applications list on Facebook and Myspace. Players even spend real money to buy facebook poker chips or farmville cash and coins, knowing that they will never be able to convert the virtual currencies they buy back in to real money. What motivates them more than the economic aspect of gaming is the draw to compete against their peers and prevail over them in a way that gives them more satisfaction than money alone.